Abraham Lincoln's famous broad axe, with which the president earned his fame as a champion rail-splitter, was placed on exhibit today in Widener Library. Many memorabilia of "Honest Abe", as well ...

NMAH/SI Upon hearing the name Abraham Lincoln, many images may come to mind: rail-splitter, country lawyer, young congressman, embattled president, Great Emancipator, assassin's victim ...

Abraham Lincoln’s assassination ... ca 1846Born in poverty and “raised to farm work,” Lincoln the rough-hewn rail-splitter had, by age 37, become a prosperous lawyer in Springfield, Illinois.

The New Salem area is historic as it’s where Abraham Lincoln lived for six years. He worked there as a clerk, postmaster and rail splitter before he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly.